Owen Burns, a 13-year-old boy Alpena Township in Michigan, was getting ready to play his favorite game “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” on his PlayStation 3 when he suddenly heard his younger sister screaming. The screams were coming from the yard where she was playing and goofing around. Concerned that she might be in trouble, Owen rushed towards the window and that’s when his little heart froze. Someone was forcefully dragging the 8-year-old girl towards the woods that edged the family’s home.
Aware that he needed to act as fast as possible, Owen grabbed the slingshot that his mom bought for him for $3 and reached to the nearest ammunition he could get his hands on, a marble and a rock. Having practiced how to use the slingshot by hitting used orange cans, he knew he could hit the kidnapper too.
Believe it or not, Owen was able to hit the kidnapper both times, once between his eyes, and the second time on the chest. “He was swearing. He was cussing,” Owen told Washington Post.
The kidnapper ran away, leaving the girl alone. She was very traumatized by the event, but at least she was safe and sound, and it was alll thanks to her brave and quick-thinking brother.
Once home, the siblings called their mother, who was helping a relative at the time the incident took place. The moment she heard what had happened, she rushed home and alerted the police.
Michigan State Police were able to track down the alleged kidnapper. They didn’t reveal his name but said he was a 17-year-old teenager who will be charged as an adult.
“He really is the one that … I believe saved his sister’s either life or from something seriously bad happening to her,” Lt. John Grimshaw said at a news conference, calling Owen’s actions “extraordinary.”
Further, Grimshaw recounted the encounter saying the kidnapper, “came from behind her, grabbed her like you see in the movies — hand over the mouth, arm around the waist — and was attempting to pull her into the woods.”
Owen’s mom, Maggie Burns, didn’t believe her son’s story of hitting the kidnapper right between the eyes and on the chest, but the police confirmed it was true.
“[The suspect] had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest,” police said in a press release.
“You said I always lie!” Owen said to his mother.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” she replied. “It just didn’t sound real, until there was proof. It sounds like something you would see in the movies.”
“Mom,” the teenager said, “stuff in the movies can and do happen in real life.”
It’s easy to say that Owen is a true hero. His efforts of protecting his little sister have been praised by the entire community. Well done, young man.
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